News for Saturday, October 4, 2003

Stories

RALF, Department of Agriculture combine to make dreams reality

Last week, the Regional Affordable Living Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture celebrated the launch of Routt County's first Self-Help Housing Program. In the grant-funded program, seven income eligible families will receive skills training and then work to build their own homes in West End Village. Ellen Hoj, executive director of RALF and the architect of the program locally, talked about self-help housing.

Members of the Gondola Square Condominium Assoc-iation are advancing a multiyear plan intended to transform the buildings at the base of the Steamboat Ski Area from a stark monolith into a base village that reflects a wide range of textures, colors and shapes.

The Steamboat Springs tennis team will send all three of its singles players and all four of its doubles teams to state, after the Sailors crowned five individual regional champions and got two second-place finishes to capture their sixth straight Region 8 team championship in Delta during the weekend.

Mason & Morse listing home for $1.5 million

Harold Lujan's home redefines "tree house." The South Routt log creation he has called home for the past 14 years took seven years to build. The home is truly one of a kind, crafted almost entirely with hundreds of locally gathered beetle-killed spruce that were then stacked and sealed using no chinking, nails or screws.

Heeling Friends is recruiting dog-owner teams this week

Retailer seeks to promote product, educate customers

Heather Howell-Durand is not your average downtown merchant. She isn't there just to sell her hand-made soaps, serums, lotions and clothing. She wants to educate, and her lesson plan includes promoting a plant that she thinks can help save the planet.

It's July 10. Cookie Lockhart is on the operating table in Tulsa, Okla., to have a 3.3-centimeter tumor removed from her right breast. Just before being anesthetized, she asked the doctors if they knew what breasts and martinis had in common. "One's not enough, and three is too many," she replied.